Ten Years of Our Lives
by Jade Thropp
Summary: Phoebe has to deal with a very religious mother, a father who's never home, an almost nymphomaniac aunt and a nerd cousin. But everything would be fine, really, if she hadn't met a couple of devil hunters. And ended up spending most of her time with one of them even though things between them didn't start very... lovely.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, first of all: English is my second language, so if you find any mistakes, please tell me. Because sometimes, when I'm checking, my bugged brain automatically corrects some mistakes and I end up missing them.  
Second… I don't know if there is anything else to say. lol. Well, I hope you enjoy!**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry. OMG, REALLY?! Yeah, Really.**_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

A girl was in the bathtub enjoying the warm water and trying to remember if she still had anything to do on that day. She put her head underwater and closed her eyes. That was when the memory of a house engulfed in flames hit her and she felt the urge to emerge and catch her breath. Then somebody knocked on the door, causing her to jump.

"Get out of this bathroom already! I hope you're not sinning in there!"

"What?" The girl sighed and hit a palm against her forehead. "No! I'm… Mother, I'm just taking a bath!" She yelled back.

"A really long one! We have to go to church, hurry up!" Johanna was a 40-year-old very religious woman. She had long brown hair, green eyes, and always wore light colored clothes.

"I'm not going anywhere!" She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath and whispered to herself: "Jeez, just leave me alone…"

"You'll go to Hell if you don't go to the Lord's house to pray and ask for forgiveness!" She still didn't have anything to ask forgiveness for, but if that woman kept talking, she would definitely kill her.

"I'll send you a postcard when I get there!" Johanna took her crucifix pendant and held it in her right hand.

"You will end up just like your aunt!" And finally took off after yelling.

"At least Aunt Tara is happy…"

Phoebe was a very pale, taller than average and skinny 16-year-old girl. She had bluish green eyes and wavy dyed black shoulder-length hair with purple locks. She was the guitarist of her rock band. That would be enough reason to drive her mother crazy, however, there was also the fact that she'd always be at the principal's office for picking up a fight. Or for threatening anyone who called her 8 year-old-cousin a nerd. Even though he really was one.

When the girl finally finished her bath, she wrapped herself in a towel and walked towards her bedroom while combing her hair. She stopped midway when she heard some weird noises coming from the hallway closet. Phoebe arched an eyebrow and approached it, carefully knocking on the door.

"Oh, hi!" She rolled her eyes, recognizing her aunt's voice.

"What the Hell are you doing in there?"

"Uhm… Nothing? Just… looking for clothes." Tara was in her 30's, had long natural black hair always tied up in a messy bun. She and Phoebe had basically the same traits, except for the violet eyes and her incredible body. Seriously, every men would stare at her and crash the car or be hit by one. Usually she wore long dresses with a thigh-high slit.

"You're not doing some weird mojo or whatever-you-call-it in there, are you?" Sometimes, Tara would try some sort of black magic, and said some weird stuff while doing it. That was why Johanna hated her so much. She was her husband's sister with nowhere to live, though, so she had to deal with it.

"Okay, you got me! Now, shoosh!" That didn't fell right so she decided to play along.

"Jeez, okay. See ya later." Then she pretended to step away. A few seconds later, Phoebe heard a male voice mumbling something. "A-ha! You're having sex in there!" She was also some kind of nymphomaniac. Well, to sum it up: Tara wasn't exactly normal. "Oh my God! You're having sex! Some of my coats are in there! Ugh…"

"Oh God…"

"Did you just say that because of me or because of him!?"

"Phoebe, just go find something to do!" The woman was having a bad time trying to control her partner's mouth.

"No way! You have a bedroom, y'know!"

"Yeah, and if I'm there with a guy, you start complaining 'cause Billy's bedroom is right next to mine and blahblahblah!" The girl sighed and hit a palm against her forehead. Why did she have to bring all these men home?

"Okay, okay… I'll take Billy to the park."

"Oh, thank you! You're the best niece in the whole world!"

"Shut up." If that door was open, Tara would see her deadly glare.

Phoebe finally went to her bedroom, put a black tank top, a pair of black boots and a red plaid skinny pants on and knocked on her cousin's door.

"What is it, Aunt Johanna?"

"It's me, Billy!"

"Phoebe!" He cheerfully yelled as he opened the door and threw his arms around her waist. Billy, whose name was actually William, was a green-eyed blond boy. He had some freckles on his face and had to wear glasses.

"Hey, how about we go to the park?" He seemed a little disappointed.

"Now? I'm doing my homework…" And that was why he was called a nerd.

"Oh, c'mon, it'll be fun!" He waved his head clearly saying 'no'. The girl sighed.

"Okay… How about some ice cream?"

"Getting better…" Just like his mother.

"Then… What is your homework about?"

"Giraffes!"

"Then we can go to the zoo!"

"Yay! You're the best!" His eyes shined and he hugged her. She just laughed and hugged him back.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, there was a white haired 18-year-old boy enjoying his delicious pizza while listening to some rock music. He was trying to push away the thoughts about how it had been a few weeks since the Temen-ni-gru incident, the last time he saw his brother, until someone opened the door yelling like the zombie apocalypse had just started.

"Dante, I need you to do something for me!" Why did he nickname her Lady anyway? She would never be one.

"Hello, Lady. I'm fine, thanks for asking." He grabbed another bite of his pizza and kept staring at her.

"Haha." She crossed her arms and approached the half-breed very dangerously. "There's a pack of demons a client wants me to get rid of."

"Wow, you can't deal with a pack of demons? Losing your touch, babe?" He smirked, causing the girl to grab her pistol and aim it at his head. "Whoa, slow down!"

"I would deal with the pack, Dante. But there is a bigger and more powerful demon controlling them."

"Okay, now you have my attention. Where's the party?" He quickly put his red coat on and grabbed his weapons.

* * *

"I don't think the zoo is this way…" Billy was frightened. He had never been to that part of the city before and now he knew why: it was dark and it felt like they would be attacked at any moment. Phoebe looked cool, but on the inside she was extremely pissed off for being lost, even though she wouldn't admit it.

"I already told you we're taking a shortcut."

"We're lost." She crossed her arms and stared at him deadly.

"No. We're not." Then the girl felt something weird and widened her eyes. She couldn't describe it; it was like she had been hit on the head without feeling any kind of pain.

"… Are you okay?" Phoebe put her index finger on his mouth and looked around, trying to find anything suspicious. That feeling wouldn't go away even though they were alone on the street. Her heart was about to jump out of her chest.

"Run." She didn't mean to say that, the words just got out of her mouth.

"What?"

She finally saw it. It was like a huge shadow with big claws and red eyes, coming out from one of the alleys. There were other small shadows coming from behind it, making their way towards the cousins.

"RUN!" They turned around only to see more of those hideous creatures. Billy was already shivering.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Screaming like that was one terrible idea. One of the creatures focused on him and started to move even faster. "OH MY GOD!" For the first time she was able to see what those things looked like. They were like melted puppets holding big and scary scythes. It finally hit her: they were demons.

"Dammit." Her hands were hot, almost burning. Phoebe had do control it, Billy would end up getting hurt if she didn't. However, if she couldn't find a way to get them out of there, they were both going to die. "Billy, stay behind me." He did what he was told to and she watched as her right hand looked like it was on fire. She stretched her arm quickly towards the closest demon and the fireball hit him a second later.

"H-how did you do that?!" The boy widened his eyes. "Amazing!"

The girl kept attacking them with fire, however, they were too many and the ones that managed to dodge were getting really close. Suddenly a demon jumped very high and was prepared to attack Billy on his way back to the ground. Phoebe didn't think twice: she hugged him, shielding the boy from the blow with her body. She screamed when she felt the skin of her back being ripped apart by the scythe. Fortunately, it wasn't that deep. That weird feeling hit her again, but this time it felt like something even more powerful was on its way.

"Get out of here." She whispered to her cousin before shooting a blast of fire against the creature that hurt her. "I'll keep'em busy… and you run." Phoebe was having a hard time trying to catch her breath and the fact that she could feel the blood running down her back wasn't helping.

"But—"

"GO!" He nodded and ran as fast as he could, he would never leave her alone, though, so he hid behind a dumpster a few meters away. Her vision was starting to get blurry so it was getting harder and harder to hit the demons. She could feel that powerful creature getting closer, but she didn't have the strength to run. A demon was able to reach and catch the girl, throwing her body against a wall with ease, making her hit her head. Everything went dark in a blink.

The rest of the infernal creatures were making their way to the girl quickly. Even if she was already dead, they would love to tear that pretty skin apart and enjoy the smell of blood. They stopped, however, when a spinning sword hit a few of them and came back to its owner.

"I gotta admit it, Lady. This looks like fun." The brunette beside him rolled her eyes and took her guns.

"Just take care of the big guy and I'll take care of the rest."

"Ha. I'll finish'im off and there'll be plenty of time for me to slay some of your lesser demons, Ma'Lady." Dante propped Rebellion on his shoulder and smiled.

"We'll see about that." She started shooting as soon as she finished the sentence.

In the end he was frustrated for finishing the big demon off in a couple of blows: another boring job brought to you by Lady, ladies and gentlemen. Also, he slayed way more demons than she did. The half-demon was about to make fun of the girl when she stopped to examine the floor.

"Was it… Recently burned?"

"What?" He laughed. "Don't try to change the subject… This wall over here is also burned." Dante whistled while looking at the damage. "Definitely not made by those demons."

"Oh God…" There was a girl lying on the ground. How could they have missed something like that? Dante still had no clue of what was going on until he saw her kneeling besides a body.

"Is that a…? Damn."

"No, wait!" Lady quickly took her pistol and aimed at the direction of the voice. She lowered it when she realized it was a little boy. "Please… Help my cousin!" He was about to cry.

"Look, kiddo—" At that exact moment the girl he thought was dead had a few seconds of consciousness and moaned in pain. "… She's a zombie." The blond boy frowned. "Lady, go call the ambulance."

"We have to take her to your shop first."

"What!? Why?"

"Because she's the one who made those burning marks." The devil huntress grabbed her hand and showed it to him. The skin wasn't burnt, even though there were embers on it.

"And things just got interesting again." He smiled.

* * *

When Phoebe finally regained consciousness her eyes opened slowly, but she had to blink a few times before the blurred vision would go completely away. Her head hurt like Hell, and to her surprise when she touched the wounded spot on her forehead it was bandaged. The girl looked at the ceiling and saw a fan spinning very slow. She had never seen that fan before. What the fuck was going on?

She looked down and realized she was lying on a couch and her torso was also bandaged. Well, if she had been kidnapped, at least they were nice. No, wait. What if she really had been kidnapped? She sat up and started looking around desperately. Now she remembered the demons' attack, and that Billy was there with her. Where could he be? Her hearts skipped a beat when she saw someone's back. It was a guy. A white-haired, shirtless guy scratching the back of his head and swearing because of a jukebox, apparently.

She instinctively grabbed a bottle that was lying on the floor and, fighting against the pain on her body, silently stood up. Phoebe carefully approached him and raised her right arm, ready to hit the back of his head. At the last second he grabbed her wrist and turned around to face his attacker with a smile on his face.

"A bottle? Seriously?"

With her other hand she reached the pockets of her pants only to find out they were empty. She frowned.

"Looking for this?" He showed her a small dagger.

"No." The next thing she did looked like she was blowing a kiss to him, what would make him feel flattered, really, if it wasn't for the fact that embers hit his eyes, blinding him for a few seconds. Phoebe tried to take the dagger back, however, the white-haired guy grabbed the girl's wrists, turned her around and held them behind her back. "Shit… Look, I don't know what you want. Just let me go."

"Nice, I'm stuck with another crazy girl. You're the one who attacked first!"

"I'm the one who woke up in a place I've never seen before! And where the fuck is Billy?" She could feel her hands burning again.

"The kiddo? He's fine, he's with my friend. Your name is Phoebe, right?" She just glared at him with the corner of her eyes. "That's what he told me." He shrugged. "Name's Dante, by the way."

"I don't give a fuck about your name. Just let me go!" Her hands caught on fire, causing him to apply more pressure on her wrists.

"Stop that!"

"Sometimes I can't control it! Especially when I've been kidnapped by some nutjob who thinks he lives in the 80s!" Now that pissed him off.

"We slayed the fucking demons that were going to kill you, brought you here and bandaged you." He released her wrists and walked towards his desk. "If you still think that we wanna harm you or that annoying kid, be my guest to leave. But before that, you're gonna tell me what the fuck you are." Dante sat on his chair and kept staring at her.

"W-What do you mean?"

He took a deep breath before starting.

"You're not a demon. That's for sure." The devil hunter leaned his forearms on the desk. "What are you then?"

"I-I don't know." Phoebe put one lock of her hair behind her ear as he frowned. "I swear. I don't know! For all I know, I'm human."

"Are you trying to tell me that a bald man in a wheelchair will come right through this door…" He pointed at it. "And ask you to let him talk about his school?" It was her turn to frown.

"… Really?" The girl put a hand on her forehead, she was getting dizzy again and had to sit down on the couch. Somehow she was still feeling the same thing of when she saw those demons.

"Phoebe!" Billy came running from the door and practically jumped on her. It was rather painful.

"Billy, it hurts!" She said almost breathless, he apologized and sat by her side. "Are you ok? Did you get hurt?"

"No, I'm fine!" Phoebe let out a sigh of relief. "She bought me chocolate!" He pointed at the girl who was standing at the door frame. She had short dark hair and a few scars on her body. But what really caught her attention were her eyes: one was green and the other was red. She finally crossed the room and stood in front of Dante.

"That's on you, by the way."

"What?!" He widened his eyes. "It was your idea!" She just shrugged and finally looked at the wounded girl.

"Phoebe, right?" She nodded. "You can call me Lady." Wait, what? Who the Hell would name their daughter 'Lady'? It was probably some joke.

"… Should I call him Tramp, then?" She asked slowly. They both frowned. "Wait, are you serious? 'Lady'?"

"Just. Call. Me. Like. That." She nodded again. "Anyway, I brought you a shirt. Yours is almost all ripped apart, I just put it back on so you wouldn't feel embarrassed." The huntress tossed her a black shirt.

"Thanks." Phoebe stood up and took her old shirt off, tossing it on the floor, causing Lady to widen her eyes and stare at her. "What?"

"Do you just take your clothes off like that?!"

"… I'm bandaged." Dante couldn't help but laugh.

"Y'know, if you weren't that skinny, I think I would like you." He winked while she frowned.

"Okay, let's get one thing straight: no, I don't starve, I actually eat a lot. My Aunt has a gorgeous body, and a look a lot like her. And I'm only sixteen, I still have hope, right?" He laughed louder and she felt like throwing that bottle from before on his head.

"Whatever you say…"

She sighed and finally dressed the shirt.

"So, let me see if I got this right. You're demon slayers—"

"Devil hunters." Lady corrected and she rolled her eyes.

"Ok, devil hunters, and you saved Billy and me from those things—"

"Actually, we only saw you after they were all dead." Dante corrected.

"Let me finish." She hissed. "And then you brought us here because you thought I was a demon too?"

"Yeah. But Dante told me you're not a demon, so what are you?"

"An X-men." The huntress crossed her arms and glared at him deadly. "Can't stand any jokes, can you?" He sighed and put his feet on the desk. "We don't know. But she's completely harmless, even with a bottle in hand."

"This is so awesome!" Billy squeaked all of a sudden with his eyes shining like stars. "It looks like a comic! You fight demons and protect the people!"

"Protect people…" Phoebe whispered to herself. Then, the flashback of the house in flames hit her head again, however, that time she could also hear screams. She ran to the bathroom and they heard when she threw up.

"She might have a concussion." Lady stated. "Ok, it's time to take you to the hospital."

"No, I'm fine. I'm… I'm going home." She walked in the room again. "Thanks for everything and…" She looked at Dante. "Sorry for the bottle… thing." He shrugged.

"You'd never hit me anyway."

"Billy, let's go." She walked out of the door. The devil huntress waited a few seconds before going after her.

"Wait." They turned around. "Look, I don't who or what you are, but if I ever find out that you hurt someone, I'm going to hunt you down. Is that clear?"

"Yes."

"Don't talk to her like that!" Billy crossed his arms and tried to look as scary as an 8-year-old could. Lady simply ignored.

"Good." She slowly went back to the shop.

Phoebe sighed heavily and stared at the shop's neon sign. 'Devil May Cry'. Why would a demon-hunting agency be called like that?


	2. Chapter 2

**At first I didn't mean to take this long to update, but then I had to take allergens for a week and it made me sooooo sleeepy… Anyway, I'm sorry! It won't happen again (or at least I hope so…)!  
And I still get pretty confused about replying reviews in the site… Is that really supposed to be a PM, or should I answer here? OMG.  
Anyway, thanks, Savage Kill for your review!**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Dante was soaked in blood. Not that the fight had been hard, on the contrary, it was rather boring. However, that fucking demon had to blow up in tiny pieces once he was dead. It was funny at first, he won't deny it, but at that moment all he wanted was to take a shower. When he opened the door to enter the shop he saw that Lady was sitting on his desk, already waiting for him.

"I just finished that shitty job you gave me." He pointed at himself, hoping she would see all that blood and leave him alone. "I'm not doing anything else for you for the rest of the week."

"I'm not here to give you a job… Even though you still owe me."

"Oh, I see, Babe." He smirked and leaned one of his hands on the desk. "Let me take a shower and we can do whatever you—" He didn't even have time to finish the sentence because a bullet hit his forehead. The hybrid growled as he took his way to the bathroom.

"Someone's killing some of my demons!" She yelled before he could reach the door.

"Not my problem."

"You **are** going to help me find out who that son of a bitch is." Dante rolled his eyes and finally looked at her. Lady was crossing her arms and glaring deadly at him. There was only one thing that drove her so crazy.

"Are they stealing your payment?"

"No."

"Then why do you bother?"

"Because…" She growled. "Would you like if someone killed your demons?"

He laughed loud enough for her to grab her pistol again and aim at him.

"No one stands a chance against the demons I enjoy killing. And if someone did for me those boring jobs of yours I'd actually thank that person." She shot again, but this time he dodged with ease.

"They're still mine and I should be the one killing them!"

"Let it go, Lady. Jeez, I didn't know you were that possessive." Dante finally entered the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He definitely didn't trust the huntress when she was mad.

"You can't run, Dante! You're helping me!"

"I'm having a pizza first!"

* * *

Phoebe was taking her electric guitar out of its case when Kevin, the vocalist of the band, crouched beside her and whispered.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? All I see is a bunch of drunk assholes." He was one year older than the black-haired girl. He had brown hair and eyes.

"You wanted a place, didn't you? This was the best I could get." She shrugged.

"How did you even find this rat hole? I've never been to this part of town."

"See the guy cleaning the glasses?" He nodded while she waved at the said guy and he waved back. "He owed me one."

"He owed **you** one?! What the fuck, Phoebe?!" He stood up and glared at the guy, about to punch his face.

"What?! Oh, God, Kevin, no!" She said disgusted. "Look, a couple months ago, I happened to meet his cousin who was trying to find him! And I helped her to get here. That's all, Jesus!" He sighed with relief. However, that was one big fat lie, since she helped that man to get rid of some lesser demons. Oh well, it was better off that way.

"Oh, sorry…"

"Can we please start the show?"

Kevin shyly went to talk to the rest of the band to make sure they were ready. Since they were, he grabbed the microphone and stared at the audience he was pretty sure that wouldn't pay attention to a single thing they were about to play. He started to introduce the members of the band; however, Phoebe wasn't paying any attention to it. She felt the blood start to rush through her veins: it was that feeling she had when demons were nearby. Before she could run to the closest window, she heard Jayce, the drummer, call her name.

"He just introduced you! Are you okay?" She waved at the audience while faking a smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Even though she only felt it once, she already knew it meant a really powerful demon was approaching. She jumped when the door was suddenly opened and a couple entered the bar. Her eyes widened when she recognized the white-haired guy and the girl who had heterochromia – they were one very weird couple, no one could deny that. "Fuck." Of course she hadn't forgotten what the girl, 'Lady', told her four months ago.

_"Look, I don't who or what you are, but if I ever find out that you hurt someone, I'm going to hunt you down. Is that clear?"_

Phoebe had done nothing wrong! She actually helped some people who were being attacked by weak demons. Why were they after her? Kevin looked at her and got worried when he realized that she was frozen.

"Phoebe? Is that some kind of stage fright?"

Dante heard it and looked at the girl, acknowledging her presence for the first time. He remembered the name and the face, but couldn't remind where they had met. Lady was the one to state it.

"It's that girl we saved." Oh, yeah, the bottle attacker chick.

"Hey, at least I can enjoy some live music while eating my pizza."

Actually, that wasn't going to happen. As soon as Phoebe realized they were staring at her, she ran towards the backdoor. Lady immediately thought it was some kind of guilty confession and went after her.

"Hey, what the fuck, Lady?!" He asked though she didn't even bother to answer.

On the back alley the bar had a small awning atop of the door. The girl quickly climbed the dumpster and then climbed the awning, trying to hide herself. The huntress looked around and when the thought of looking up hit her, she was also hit by a pair of black boots causing her to fall on the ground. The other girl landed on the ground, took her dagger and pointed it at her.

"Look, I don't know why you're following me, but I've done nothing wrong."

"What?!" She narrowed her eyes. "You're the one who ran away and hit me on the chest!"

"Wait, so you were not—" Before she could finish the sentence, arms wrapped her waist and hands grabbed hers. Phoebe didn't think twice: she dug her teeth in the right forearm of her attacker.

"How come I only meet crazy girls?" Dante was actually grinning, not caring about the bite at all. She stopped and looked at him.

"Oh, it's you." She said nonchalantly. For the first time she realized he had icy blue eyes. What was he? A fucking albino? "Can you please let me go?" She faked a smile.

"You were attacking my girl."

"I'm not your girl!" Lady yelled as she stood up and Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"Okay, it was all a misunderstanding. I'm sorry. But it's not my fault that she threatened me!"

"Oh, really?" He finally let go of her hands. "And why would she threaten the skeleton girl?" She narrowed her eyes. Skeleton girl? Really?

"She's right." Dante crossed his arms and stared at the huntress who was snorting. "I thought she was dangerous. Apparently, I'm not that wrong." She pointed at her chest.

"Hey, just so you know, I've been helping people! I've already killed a bunch of demons. Ok, I wouldn't call a 'bunch' but—"

"You what?" Lady growled. Realizing where this whole situation was going, the hybrid went back to the bar to order his pizza. Then, he would come back to watch the fight while eating it.

"Well, they were pretty weak, but one of them was attacking a girl and—"

"They were **my** demons!" Phoebe arched an eyebrow. What did she mean by that? Was she some kind of demon summoner? "I can't believe you're the one messing with my jobs!"

"Uhm… Sorry?" Lady snorted. "Look, this is actually helping me control the pyrokinesis thing. I can't stop now."

"Phoebe!" Kevin yelled as he opened the door. "I don't know if you still care about this, but we need the guitarist!"

"One more minute!" He rolled his eyes and went back inside.

"You know what? Never mind." The huntress sighed and pointed at the door. "Just go."

The younger girl nodded and followed her friend. Before she reached the stage, she met Dante going towards the door with a pizza box on his hand. Her eyes practically shined as her hand reached it and grabbed a slice.

"Oh, thanks! I was starving!"

Under a normal circumstance Dante would say: 'Yeah, no wonder. You look like an Ethiopian child.' However, he was shocked at the fact that the girl stole a slice of his pizza and kept walking just like that.

"That's not for you!"

"Too late!"

"Fucker." He mumbled. "The fight's over already?! I thought you'd rip her liver apart or something like that." He asked as he saw Lady walking towards him.

"She's not a bad person."

"Lady actually complimenting someone? That's breaking news." The hybrid laughed loudly. "What changed your mind?"

"She's just trying to do something good."

"I still think she's annoying. Anyway, since my job here is done, I'm going back to the shop."

"… You didn't do shit!"

"I immobilized her. That's something." Lady crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. The band finally started to play and the first song was AC/DC's 'Back in Black'. "Hey, at least they have a good taste in music." Dante left the pizza box on the nearest table and walked towards the door. "Are you staying, milady?"

"No."

When the song was over Phoebe realized that the feeling that demons were nearby had finally stopped. She looked around, but couldn't find the couple of hunters. The first time she saw Lady's mismatched eyes she thought it was pretty creepy. What if one of her eyes was red because she was actually a demon?

"Phoebe, what's wrong with you today?" Kevin was staring at her mad and worried at the same time. She had to blink a few times to snap out of her thoughts before answering.

"Nothing. Jeez, everything's fine."

"Focus, then."

"I'm focused. Mind your own business." He rolled his eyes and grabbed the mic.

* * *

After the show – which none of the drunken bastards paid attention to – Phoebe was heading home. Since the incident with Billy she only walked on the main streets, unless a demon she was hunting was somewhere nearby. Even though, she wouldn't get in any alleys. Until the scream of what seemed to be a little girl hit her ears. Then, the feeling that one of the infernal creatures was nearby hit her.

The teenage girl didn't think twice, something she regretted later, and ran towards the alley the scream came from. The brown-haired little girl was lying on the floor, crying. A demon had his long nails dangerously close to her. However, before it could even think of doing anything to her, a stream of fire hit him on the face, causing it to step away.

"WHO DARES INTERFERE?!" The creature roared.

"Oh, fuck, you talk." It wasn't good. If it could talk, it meant it was more powerful than the demons she had been hunting. What did the little girl do?! The said girl looked up and saw that the demon had backed away and then she stared at Phoebe's eyes, who desperately yelled: "Run!" She widened her brown eyes and started to run.

"SHE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE!"

"Oh, yes, she is." As soon as it tried to grab the girl by her ankles, a fireball hit its eyes and a wall of fire wouldn't let him pass through to chase her.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" Its giant paw hit the black-haired girl, causing her to roll on the floor, scratching her arms and face. She stared at his red eyes and wiped the blood that was running down her left cheek.

"I don't think so."

The demon tried to hit her again, but she rolled to the side, dodging the attack. Phoebe quickly stood up and hit it with a jet of flames. However, the creature still managed to survive it. That thing wasn't going down that easily, and that fact started to freak the girl out. She hit it with fireballs a couple more of times, before getting hit by its paw again, falling on the floor.

The infernal creature laughed as it walked towards the girl. She crawled, trying to stay away. It charged against her, however, the demon stopped when it felt something burn inside of him. It looked down and saw a dagger dug deep in his chest and finally realized why it was burning his skin.

"HOLY WATER?!" Phoebe's right hand was still stretched for throwing the dagger. Good thing she would always steal a bottle from her mother. Before the demon could react, she hit him again with a stream of flames and watched as it roared in anger and pain.

A few seconds later, her weapon fell to the floor as the creature vanished. She stood up with the strength she had left and took it. Then the girl leaned her back on the closest wall, puffing, and slid to the floor. She still had the feeling that a demon was around, though.

"You look like crap." Phoebe jumped when she heard the male's voice beside her. However, when she looked at him she just narrowed her eyes. It was the white-haired boy again, sitting beside her on the floor.

"You again?!" She saw him grinning. "Are you stalking me or something?!"

"You wish, babe." She opened her mouth to answer, but he was faster. "I heard the scream. But I was too late for the party, apparently." He shrugged.

"Where's your partner?" The girl still felt that a demon was in the area.

"She went home. Why?"

Wait, if Lady wasn't around even though she was feeling the presence of a demon then it meant… She widened her eyes and her jaw dropped. Of course! His white hair wasn't because of some albinism genes!

"Heh, I know I'm gorgeous. Don't be shy, you can say it." Dante's laughter woke her from her trance.

"Can you train me?" He stopped laughing as soon as he heard the question.

"Did you hit your head again?"

"Haha. No. I know you can beat the bigger demons, just help me to do the same thing."

"If you can't handle the demons, don't hunt them." He shrugged and checked her from top to bottom. "They'll probably tear you apart."

"Oh, let me guess: because I'm too skinny. This is getting old." Phoebe snorted. "I'm not stopping."

"Good luck, then, because I'm not a fucking teacher." The hybrid stood up and walked away from her.

"Asshole." The girl whispered to herself. Anyway, it was okay, she didn't need him. She didn't need anyone, she would just keep hunting and improving. Glass half-full. "I'm gonna get myself killed…"

Dante looked back when he was about to leave the alley. Surprisingly, a huge fireball was coming towards him. He jumped back and dodged with ease, staring at the girl with a grin on his face afterwards.

"Woah, babe. You're actually hot." She rolled her eyes and walked towards him, pointing a finger at his face.

"Okay, you either listen to me, or I'll put your sore ass on fire." He arched an eyebrow. Phoebe was crazy indeed; one second she was fine and then on the other she was about to break everything on her way.

"You're overestimating yourself." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "You may scream whatever you want, I won't give a shit." The hunter kept walking but unfortunately, she followed him.

"I'm just asking for help! Don't be a selfish bastard!"

"I already saved your life! You can't ask me anything else." A wall of fire suddenly appeared in front of him, making him stop. Dante turned around and snorted.

"I can pay you."

"No, you can't."

"Three thousand dollars." He arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms. How could she even have that money?

"You don't have that money."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. You'll never know." Phoebe grinned.

"Stop by the shop tomorrow with the money, and then we talk." The hybrid snorted and scratched the back of his head. With that much money, he would finally pay his debt to Lady and she would leave him alone.

"Yes!" She let the yell out as she jumped with joy. "I won!"

"I still didn't agree to this."

"Oh, you will."

* * *

On the next morning, Phoebe walked desperately through the school corridor looking for someone. As soon as she sighted him, she moved so fast that the poor boy almost had a heart attack. He had dark brown hair and eyes, wore jeans and a Megaman T-shirt.

"Arthur, please tell me you need help with the bullies."

"Damn it, Phoebe, where did you come from?!" His glasses almost fell off his face. "No, not today, why?"

"Shit. I need a hundred dollars."

That's what she did when she needed money. She would beat the bullies whenever the nerds needed help, as long as they paid her.

"… My parents need a babysitter tonight." The girl looked at him as if she were about to kill him. "… We can find someone else."

"I need the money for this afternoon."

"Have you asked Taylor if she needs help?"

"You're the last nerd I'm asking." Phoebe crossed her arms and leaned her back on the locker. Arthur didn't seem happy for being called a 'nerd', but she completely ignored him.

"We're not the only 'losers' around… Have you ever tried the woodwork club?"

"… Does that exist?" She arched an eyebrow as he slowly nodded. "Wow. Anyway, thanks. You're a lifesaver." She kissed him on the cheek and left, not even noticing the way he sighed.

* * *

Dante was asleep on his chair with his feet propped on the desk. Everything in the shop was peaceful, not a single mouse could be heard. Until the door was bursted open and black-haired girl tossed a backpack that hit his stomach. He growled and opened his eyes slowly.

"I brought your money."

"And you're taking it back." He took the backpack from his lap and let it fall on the floor.

"What?! We had a deal!"

"No, I said we'd talk about it. I'm saying no, that's talking. Now do me a favor and walk out that door."

"You were going to say no from the start." Phoebe stated as she crossed her arms and snorted. "Can I at least know why?"

"Because I don't want to." Dante shrugged.

"Open the backpack." She was now staring at him, holding back a smile.

"I don't want your money." He arched an eyebrow.

"You can have it." The girl shrugged. "You need more than I do. This place is a wreck."

There was something wrong about that. However, curiosity got the best of the hybrid and he picked up the backpack. He laughed when he opened the zipper: just like he had thought.

"You never had the money." There was just a brick inside of it. "Did you really think I wouldn't look inside before agreeing?"

"Well… At least I tried." Phoebe turned around and walked towards the door. "See you around, Dante."

"Wait, Jack Skellington." He stood up and took his guns and sword. At first she was frowning, but then she got curious, watching every single move. Dante walked past her and made a sign for her to follow him.

"Where are we going?"

"To hunt some demons." He grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"You have one message: '_Hey, Tara, it's me, Neil Boller, I've been calling for a few days... I really wanna see you again.'_"

Phoebe froze when she heard that name. Why was the quarterback, the most popular guy from her school, calling her aunt? Did she…? Oh, shit. She went to her aunt's bedroom and didn't even knock on the door. Fortunately, the woman was just combing her hair.

"Why did Neil Boller leave a message in our answering machine?"

"Who?" She didn't even look at her niece.

"6'0" tall, dark blond hair, green eyes…"

"Oh, the handsome quarterback!" Tara finally turned around and arched an eyebrow when she realized Phoebe had crossed her arms. "… What did I do now?"

"He's one of the guys from school who would love to see me dead. Also, he's seventeen. Isn't that illegal?"

"First of all: you're not exactly adorable most of the time. Secondly, I've never cared about age." The woman started to tie her hair in her usual messy bun.

"You told him you were twenty, didn't you?" Tara stopped. Her violet eyes now staring intently at her niece's bluish-green ones.

"Don't you dare tell him otherwise." Phoebe sighed.

"Are you ever going to call him back?"

"Hell, no. He's handsome but he's terrible in bed…"

"Really?!" She laughed and sat on the bed. "Tell me more."

"No." She stood up. "I'm starving. Let's go have breakfast."

Phoebe got disappointed, but she followed her to the kitchen anyway. They could already smell the pancakes Johanna was cooking and Billy was already sitting on his chair, waiting for the food.

"Morning, Billy. Morning, mother." They greeted back. Tara just waved at her son, neither her or the religious woman would exchange many words when they were in the same room. Johanna placed the pancakes plate on the table and they started to eat.

"Good morning." A tall black-haired man showed up in the kitchen. He looked a lot like Tara, except for the blue eyes.

"Fwathjert, yhwou're hwuomie?!" The girl asked with her mouth full and he frowned at her.

"Phoebe von Heffner, where are your manners?" He sighed. "You are just like your aunt..." Tara laughed with her hand covering her mouth.

"Oh, Erwin, you're adorable." He narrowed his eyes as he sat down. "Why did you already come back from Germany?"

"I'm not going to discuss this right now. How's school?" The man asked for both of the kids. Billy just nodded; he had always been afraid of him and avoided saying any words that would make him angry.

"The same." She shrugged.

"I had to go to the principal's office at least 5 times while you were out of the country." His wife said nonchalantly. "Some kids are paying her to beat some 'bullies', as they call them. This is not what Jesus wanted when he died for hum—"

"Shut it. I don't care." He stared at his daughter's eyes. "Did you come up with this?"

"Uhm… Yeah."

"Interesting…"

"No, it is not." Johanna frowned. "It's wrong and she should be grounded." Erwin pretended not to listen and everybody else did the same.

"Anyway, I gotta go." Phoebe stood up and put the last piece of pancake in her mouth.

"We are not done yet."

She shrugged and left, causing her father to sigh and frown at his sister. She never knew how to behave, and he blamed her for not being an example to his daughter or her own son.

* * *

"Hey, handsome." A beautiful brunette trailed her index finger over his biceps. Dante growled. He hated when people woke him up.

"What?" He mumbled.

"I gotta go. Can you walk me to the door?" She asked seductively. The hybrid refused to move one single muscle just to look at her. Laziness usually got the best of him.

"Can't you do it by yourself?" He growled. She frowned and got out of the bed, wearing her clothes as fast as she could.

"You're an asshole."

She stormed out of the room. Dante sighed, put his pants on and went after her. She was already opening the door and he would have called her name, if he remembered what it was. The door opened before he could say anything and Phoebe went in. She looked at the brunette, acknowledging her presence, and went to the couch. After being trained for 2 months, she already knew that every Saturday and Sunday morning there was going to be a different girl he had fucked pissed off. He knew how to attract women that got pissed off quite fast.

"Who is she?" She pointed at Phoebe, who just looked at her and answered nonchalantly.

"His half-sister." She had come up with that so they would either think she was adorable, or just forget her existence.

"Just so you know, your brother is an asshole."

"Oh, I hear that a lot."

The brunette glanced at Dante one last time and left, slamming the door behind her.

"Oh, I think that one was a keeper." He laughed at what she said. "You didn't even have to lie that you were going to call her. What did you do?"

"I didn't do shit. She was crazy." They both laughed. "I'm gonna take a shower, order a pizza for me."

"Hey, I don't follow your orders." He completely ignored her.

"No olives."

He shut the bathroom door as she sighed. The girl stood up and walked toward his desk, picking up the phone and dialing the pizza place. After ordering, she sat on his chair. That was a first. For the first time she noticed the picture frame on the desk, and couldn't help her curiosity.

"Wow, she's beautiful." As soon as her fingers touched the frame a scream cut through her years.

"_MOM!_"

Phoebe blinked a few times, confused. It seemed so far and yet so close. She stood up and looked through the windows, however, there was nothing to be seen. She put a hand on her stomach, starting to feel nauseous.

"Dante, did you hear that?" She yelled so he could hear her in the shower.

"Hear what?"

"I-It sounded like a child…" Was she crazy now?! Maybe it was a family thing, after all.

"What?" He laughed. "I always knew you were on drugs. So what is it? Coke?" The hybrid opened the door and exited the bathroom. He had his pants on again and a towel hung around his neck. "Shit, you're pale. More than usual, I mean."

"I'm okay." She slowly shook her head, snapping herself out of it. "Wait, what do you mean by 'more than usual'?" The girl narrowed her eyes. "Do you even have a mirror?!"

"Yes, and it tells me every day how gorgeous I am."

"Oh, really?!" Phoebe laughed. "Are you sure you're looking at a mirror? Maybe it's a huge picture of Brad Pitt, you know."

"I'm better than Brad Pitt." The hunter winked at her. "Now get the Hell out of my chair." Grinning, she propped her feet on his desk, crossed her arms and stared him in the eyes.

"Make me."

Dante laughed. As if it could be considered a challenge. He just grabbed the feet of the chair and flipped it around, causing her to spin quickly and fall with her face on the floor. He positioned the chair back and sat down.

"Happy?" He looked at Phoebe, who was still facing the floor.

"It hurt, you jerk."

"You're gonna cry?" The girl finally stood up and saw him grinning. She punched him in the arm and sat on the desk.

"Can we please start the training now?"

"I'm waiting for the pizza!" Right. She had already forgotten about that. She placed a hand on the picture frame again and Dante watched every single move. Fortunately, no screams were heard that time.

"Your mother?" He nodded.

"Good guess."

"Not really." Phoebe stared at his icy-blue eyes. "… You have her eyes." Her voice sounded so soft that for a moment she doubted it had really come out of her mouth. He broke the eye contact and looked at the picture.

"No, I don't."

She didn't know what else to say. None of them talked too much about their lives and she definitely wouldn't push the subject. The hybrid was glad she didn't do it, but also noticed the awkwardness in the room.

"I can see your nipples through that shirt." The black-haired widened her eyes and Dante had to control himself not to laugh.

"What?!" She looked down and only then remembered she was wearing a bra. "Haha." They heard somebody knocking on the door.

"Finally!" He stood up. "There's a hole in my stomach, already."

* * *

For what felt like the millionth time, Dante was able to knock her down before Phoebe could even try to burn his coat with a fireball. He crossed his arms and grinned at her. She just rolled her eyes and swore under her breath. They were training on the roof and it was already noon.

"Still pretty slow, are we?"

"I hate you." He laughed.

"No, you don't. Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"I'm out of options, Lady creeps me out." She slowly stood up. "Can we have a break? I'm starving."

"Me too. There's this diner—"

"I'm not having pizza." Did he ever eat something else? How could he not get tired of just eating pizza?

"I don't care about what you're going to eat or not. But I'm having my pizza." Dante opened the door that led back into the shop. "Are you coming or not?"

"You know what? I think we should call it a day so I can go to other place and eat what I want. If I smell another pizza, I'm gonna throw up." He rolled his eyes as she passed by him.

"Fine."

"Fine."

They remained in silence until they reached the office. Phoebe took her backpack and quickly waved at him, not even caring to look. As soon as she touched the door handle, though, he teased:

"They have cookies, y'know." She stopped right away and, since he couldn't see it, mouthed 'fuck you'. "Peanut butter cookies."

When she was about to turn around and try to kick Dante in the stomach, the door was burst open, causing her to lose her balance and almost fall on the floor. A fat guy entered the shop and raised his arms.

"Dante! I have a job for you!" The hunter raised an eyebrow.

"Enzo? What the hell? I haven't seen you in months."

"Yeah, yeah. I've had some troubles." He glanced at Phoebe and checked her from hair to toe. "Jeez, you're not kidding when you say you have rotten luck with women."

"Excuse me?!" She crossed her arms and glared at him deadly. Dante just laughed.

"Well, at least she has a pretty face."

"Says the fat-ass."

"Enzo, that's Phoebe." The hybrid said before she could turn the poor guy into ashes. "She's a Devil Huntress."

"Oh, good! So you can both help me." He smiled at her, but she kept glaring at him.

"I'm not helping you, you piece of shit."

"Hey, c'mon, are you a Devil Hunter or not?!" She rolled her eyes and sat on the couch. "Oh, never mind. You won't make a difference anyway."

For the next ten minutes, Enzo explained the job as Dante got more bored by the minute. Sometimes the girl would laugh at his expression. Basically, he had won a valuable ring in a poker game that he didn't know some demons were after it. And he couldn't get rid of it because it wouldn't come out of his finger.

"I think it'd be better if we just cut his finger out." Phoebe grinned at him.

"I won't say it's a bad idea." The hybrid had his hands on his hips. "Let's go to the diner now. I just lost ten minutes of my life."

"Hey, aren't you going to help me?!"

"Stick around and I'll kill the demons when they show up, I'm not wasting my time going after them." He opened the door and was about to leave the shop, when he realized the girl was still sitting on the couch. "Aren't you coming?" She didn't answer. "Phoebe?" Nothing. "Whatever." He closed the door behind him.

"What happened?"

"I don't know and I don't give a shit. Let's go." Enzo nodded and followed the Devil Hunter.

Phoebe blinked twice, snapping out of her thoughts. The burning house was haunting her again. Each time it happened, things were getting less blurry.

"What?" She looked around only to realize she was alone in the office. "When did they…? Shit." She stood up and walked toward Dante's desk, staring at the picture frame again. The girl was afraid of touching it, though. Instead, she decided to open the drawer and pick a magazine to read.

She found a pair of gloves in there, one of them had a cut in the palm and a lot of dried blood on it. Phoebe touched it quickly, just to put it aside, however, it was enough to send a shock through her body.

"I'm staying,—"

What was wrong with his stuff?! Did they have a life of their own?! Okay, sometimes some of his Devil Arms would say something funny, especially Agni and Rudra, but they were Devil Arms for fuck's sake! She closed the drawer in a hurry and stood up. Only then she realized she had dropped a paper on the floor. She took it and couldn't help reading it.

"_Today is your birthday! So the Love Planet has a very special thing planned for you!_"

What is seen, cannot be unseen. Not that Phoebe cared about the fact that he enjoyed strippers, she enjoyed male strippers herself. But now it was really hard not to pretend it was his birthday, even though he didn't seem to care about it. She sighed and put it back in the drawer.

* * *

Dante had already finished his pizza and his strawberry sundae and still there were no sign of demons. Enzo paid the bill and they left the diner.

"Enzo, are you sure you didn't see these demons while you were drunk, you fat bastard?"

"No, they're after me!" His whole body shivered and he hid behind the hunter, who hit him in the head. "They're coming!"

A dark smoke surrounded them and they slowly turned into the five demons that were hunting Enzo and his mysterious ring. Dante smiled and pushed the poor fat guy aside with his right foot.

"So, you want a piece of this poor bastard?"

"Son of Sparda." The biggest demon hissed. "Don't get in our way."

"Sorry, that's not an option." He pointed at Enzo, who was trying to hide behind a dumpster. "You see, the poor guy happens to be my friend."

"You can't stop us!" Ironically, Ebony's first shot hit the smallest demon and killed it right away. The hunter seemed pretty disappointed.

"Seriously?! Is that all you got?!" Dante took Rebellion from his back and swung it only once, hitting two of the demons at the same time. They instantly died. He sighed and stared at the two remaining creatures. They tried to charge at him, but bullets met them midway, making them disappear in the smoke they once came.

"Thank you, Dante! You're a life saver!"

"All that drama for this, Enzo?" He ran his hand through his hair and sighed again. "I was expecting something better."

"Sorry if I'm being chased by demons that want my head!" The hunter rolled his eyes. What a big waste of his time. He started to walk away from Enzo. "Hey, where're you going?"

"Back to the shop." He didn't even look back.

"Okay, and just wait! I'll find some big job for ya!"

"Yeah, I hear that a lot." The hybrid whispered to himself. He wondered if Phoebe was still there and if she realized they had left. She could be really slow sometimes.

The way back to the shop took only 10 minutes. He kicked the door open, but the office seemed to be deserted. Dante looked around, trying to find any signs of the girl, and that was when he realized there was something on his desk. Was that a…

"Cupcake?" He raised an eyebrow. "What is this thing doing…?" There was a piece of paper underneath it. He took it and got pretty confused when he read it.

"_Happy Birthday! Well, I tried to find something that had strawberries on it, but… That cupcake was the best thing I could find…_"

The hybrid couldn't remember telling anyone about when his birthday was. He hated celebrating birthdays. He opened his drawer and saw the Love Planet paper and that was when it hit him: He could've told the girls while he was drunk. There was a stripper who was really into him, probably she was the one responsible for this.

He sat on his chair and enjoyed his cupcake. It was delicious.


End file.
